Critical Essay by Alexis Solomos

SOURCE: Solomos, Alexis. “The Acharnians—Comedy and Ideology.” In The Living Aristophanes, pp. 67-85. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1974.

In the following essay, Solomos presents an overview of the Acharnians and explains why the political parody appealed to the war-weary populace of its time.

In his plays he tried to show that the Athenian state was free and by no tyrant oppressed.

Ancient Life of Aristophanes

The Babylonians was produced five years after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War and almost three after Pericles' death. Following the production of this play, Cleon brought an action against Aristophanes for insulting the State “in the presence of foreigners.”1 In his next play, the Acharnians, the poet will recall: